A Guide to the William James Battle Papers, 1870-1959

Papers were produced and collected by
William James Battle (1870-1955) and relate to his professional career at the
University of Texas (1893-1917, 1920-1949), his graduate studies while at Harvard
(1890-1893), his personal life, his life in Austin, Texas, his travels in Europe and
America, his lifelong interest in classical languages, civilization and fine art,
and to his role in the controversy between Governor James Edward Ferguson and the
University of Texas (1914-1917).

William James Battle, born in Raleigh, North Carolina, received a B.A. from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1888 and a Ph.D. from Harvard in
1893, the same year he went to the University of Texas as associate professor of
Greek. Dean of the College of Arts by 1908 and Dean of Faculty by 1911, Battle was
elected acting president of the university in 1914. After a controversial two years
he stepped down and in 1917 went to the University of Cincinnati until 1920 when he
returned to UT as professor of classical languages and chairman of the Faculty
Building Committee. He retired in 1948 but remained as a professor emeritus and
returned to North Carolina shortly before his death in 1955.

Correspondence, speeches, lectures, literary efforts, syllabi, notes, student
records, architects' drawings, minutes, diplomas and certificates, newspaper
clippings, diaries, printed material, photographs, and other pictorial material
topically arranged. Papers were produced and collected by Battle (1870-1955) and
relate to his professional career at the University of Texas (1893-1917, 1920-1949),
his graduate studies while at Harvard (1890-1893), his personal life, his life in
Austin, Texas, his travels in Europe and America, his lifelong interest in classical
languages, civilization and fine art, and to his role in the controversy between
Governor James Edward Ferguson and the University of Texas (1914-1917). Also
included is his involvement in campus planning and in the design and construction of
new buildings at UT. Persons of note represented in the papers are Samuel Asbury,
Harry Benedict, John W. Calhoun, Paul Cret, Charles Dabney, Edwin Fay, Anna Hiss,
David Franklin Houston, Homer P. Rainey, and Mrs. C. P. Spencer. Also included are
the memoirs of his father, Kemp Plummer Battle, president of the University of North
Carolina. Photographic collection includes images of Battle's associates at the
University of Texas and of various campus buildings, architecture from U. S.
universities and cathedrals, and other significant buildings in Canada, Mexico and
Europe. Also includes many photographs of sculptures and reproductions of
Renaissance paintings.